Generic Drug Names

Does anybody talk in generic name terms with their docs and pharmacist?
I just think that life is difficult enough as it is without these confusing names dreamed up by marketers at drug companies.
Like there has been a case where a 19-year-old man almost died after he was given clozapine instead of olanzapine.
I also read an FDA report stating that about 10 percent of all medication errors reported result from drug name confusion.

[paranoid_cataclysm]

I think that it's just two guys sitting together in a lab and then one motions the other over and starts snickering and goes "Hey, look at what I wrote on here for the name of this medication ha ha ha!"  "Oh wow Ziprasidone, that'll really knock their socks off ha ha ha!"

[bastet56]

You can try Webmd for generic names but most drs and many pharmacists have a 2 tier system, name brands and generic drugs and dispense them accordingly. Not all name brand drugs have generic equivalents so they don't use the generic names. Most pharmacists also are so busy that they only have time to verify the meds in the bottle against what is in it and read the possible side effects if needed by a patron. They are too busy, at least the ones I have met, to know or discuss psych drugs with you. You are better off looking up the drugs on the net yourself. As for most drs, they know most of the meds but tend to listen to drug reps and prescribe they newest, most expensive meds. As you can tell, I am not especially trusting of either. Use the net, do your research, then use it when you go to your dr. Good luck.  

[farraway]

Picking up your good point about busy pharmacists. I go to a pharmacist about 10 min drive away, past 3 others. You know why? - because he's not that busy as he is in a small strip of shops. He has time for my questions and now gives me the technical printout (not for patients) for a drug. I have to look up words etc but I am much happier with more knowlege. I found him by chance.

[bernie40]

I think this is a really good question!  I get completely confused with all these different names.  I was told I was having lithium and off I trotted to the Chemist and was given Priadel - "Whats this?" I asked.  "I need proper lithium".  The Chemist then told me it was lithium and that I was to make sure that all my further prescriptions stated Priadel so I wasn't given a different "brand".  

So what do they do then?  They change the packaging - then I really freaked.  Call me obsessive but I then got in a right state over whether the ingredients were still the same!

Don't worry I can laugh at myself about this but I do think things should be called one thing and one thing only and ingredients should be exact regardless of where and who makes them.